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Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“Norway's church has caused the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to come after the apology.

The statement of regret was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners could get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. During 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with a mixed reaction. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have sought to offer apologies for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, even as it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but remained staunch in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”